A Grand Weekend in Sedona
Garner and I have always wanted to go to the Grand Canyon so last January, we decided to be spontaneous and use some credit card points to buy flights to Arizona. Little did we know, it would be freezing cold in Arizona during this time (maybe that’s why flights were cheap!).
We flew into Phoenix, rented a car and drove to the quaint and quirky town of Sedona. The town is full of retired hippies, spas, gorgeous hikes, crystals and “vortexes,” herbal tea shops and Aztec art.
We stayed at El Portal Sedona Hotel which was very quaint, had an amazing breakfast, a cozy fireplace in our room and the romantic desert vibe we were hoping for. At night they had happy hours for guests where people would gather around the outdoor fire pits with friends and dogs (yes, it’s dog friendly too!). Our first night we had some wine and cheese at the hotel happy hour, then ventured off to see some live music at Vino Di Sedona.
On our first full day, we packed up at 4 am for the 2-hour drive to the Grand Canyon. We wanted to make it for the sunrise and we did just in time! This was during the government shut down, so almost no one was there. Apparently the line to drive into the park is usually an hour long and we zoomed right in, zoomed out after the sunrise, got breakfast at a local diner, and went right back to go hike… this was the one time I was thankful for the shutdown (don’t ask me about my Global Entry application during this time…).
Because there was still a lot of snow and ice, we couldn’t do some of the trails we researched. Here are some of the ones we did and some we will do next time:
Mather Point (sunrise spot)
South Kaibib Trail Hike to Ooh Aah Point
Skyrim Trail (what we ended up doing)
Shoshone Point Trail
Moran Point
Desert Watch Tower
The next day, we debated driving to Antelope Canyon but that would’ve meant a lot of Arizona driving for our type of vacation. We decided to explore more of Sedona by going on a few local hikes (one involved crossing a freezing cold river!) and touring some local art shops. I actually ended up getting most of our families’ birthday gifts for the year because the gift shops were so cute and unique. That evening we went to Sound Bites Grill where we got last-minute dinner/concert tickets to a jazz band. It was a relaxing day after the craziness of the day before.
It was a quick trip but we loved getting outdoors and exploring Arizona for the first time. Hopefully we’ll go back in the next few years to camp or raft the Grand Canyon. But we were glad to check this amazing place off our bucket list!
Xoxo,
Paige